Vets’ Commission Chair, General Terry Scott, wants
to study if vets should get VA compensation and Social Security disability at the same time with the aim of reducing benefits.
The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission (VDBC), established by Public Law 108-136 and signed by President Bush
in November 2003, will study “whether a veteran’s disability or death should be compensated” and at what
level if any. General Scott is aiming to get enough votes from VDBC members to push ahead with his idea to study a Social
Security offset (reduction) for veterans’ disability compensation.

How do you feel about this action? Let your
public officials know how you feel!

Although we have not yet received an official copy of the resolution passed by
the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission on Friday...we do have a further report.

It appears
that the Commission "watered-down" their SSDI study. There will not be a direct VA comp to SSDI study...that
is, they will not look at a specific veteran and compare VA comp and SSDI received.

They
will, however, be looking at other aspects of SSDI.

The victory here is a small one but a good one.
The views of the dissenting Commissioners were heard...the voices of veterans were heard.

This
means that the concept of "offsets" is off the table, for now.

We must remember that the issue is still
open and could be "packaged" in a different manner.

Also, the resolution passed by the Commission regarding
a SSDI study was not in the handouts at the meeting...we must wait for the Commission to post it or
supply a copy.

Here is an email I received this morning from an "observer" to the goings-on of
the VDBC.

Note last line of email...this is from someone close to the Commission who clearly understands
their intent.

Email below:

---------------

A majority of commissioners were solidly
opposed to the idea of an offset between SSDI and VA disability compensation and prevailed in a motion to preclude
the commission from matching vets who receive both, comparing diagnosis codes under the two.

The commission
would, however, be able to look at such things as the possibility of waiving the minimum quarter of payments into
SS by troops who were in military service for a short time and were injured in Iraq, etc.

Commissioner
Grady, who favored looking at SSDI & potential offset tried unsuccessfully to get language more favorable
to his point of view into the motion.

There were about 50 people in the audience on Friday, when
the SSDI issue came up (Thursday's session dealt with other, less controversial matters).

It
was disappointing that more vets didn't show up, given the highly charged issues, but it was a larger than
usual audience.

I would say that the veteran community's outspoken opposition to the offset idea,
and an apparent large number of them contacted the commission about it, was a decisive factor.

The
Chairman had asked for, and had received, support for looking into SSDI from the House and Senate VA and Armed
Services committees, which he and Grady tried to use as justification, but the majority of commissioners were not
swayed.

This probably is not the end of attempts by some on the commission to erode veterans benefits.
Having been rebuffed and embarrassed by the outpouring of opposition, they could become more belligerent.

Larry Scott
(former E-5) served four-plus years in the U.S. Army with overseas tours as a Broadcast Journalist at AFKN HQ, Seoul, Korea
and AFN, Lajes Field, The Azores, Portugal and a stateside tour as a Broadcast Journalism Instructor at the Defense Information
School (DINFOS). Larry was decorated four times including the Joint Service Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. He was
awarded DOD's First Place Thomas Jefferson Award for Excellence in Journalism. After the Army, Larry was a news anchor on
WNBC Radio in New York City. He receives VA compensation for a service-connected disability. Today, Larry resides in Southwest
Washington and operates the website VA Watchdog dot Org.

"A
man good enough to shed his blood for his country, is good enough to receive a square
deal afterwards . . ." -- Theodore Roosevelt

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall
be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

- George Washington

GOD BLESS OUR VETERANS

Help give America's PTSD vets a stronger voice.Please join our Facebook
Cause. We are nearing 20,000 members.PTSD disabled vets should be protected under the Federal Americans with Disability
Act?

UPDATE: A couple
of years ago, I was the Operations Officer for the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, on the waterfront between the USS ARIZONA
and the USS BOWFIN. The Commandant of the Marine Corps was the featured speaker at the dedication of the USS ARIZONA Marine
Remembrance, 10 November 2006. The National Park Service, which administers the USS ARIZONA Memorial is renovating all of
Halawa Landing, the site of the Marine Remembrance. The Regional Director of the Natl Park Service Western Region, Jon Jarvis,
stated on the local TV news that the Marine Remembrance would be removed. I challenged him on that statement and convinced
him that would not happen without a fight. I passed the word to (disabled vet and webmaster) Jack Cunningham (Americans
Working Together), who in turn asked his readership to email Jarvis that the entire USMC would make every effort to have him
relieved of his duties if he moved that monument. I was copied on many of the emails to him from Marines, their friends and
their families that it nearly fried my computer. And...it worked. In order to save his job, Jarvis backed down. The
Remembrance now belongs to the USMC and has its' rightful place in direct view of the USS ARIZONA.

I'm writing this request (again) on behalf of Jack Cunningham, a former
active duty Marine and Vietnam veteran. Although I've never actually met him in person, simply the fact that he is a
fellow Marine in need of justice, I offer to help him in any way I can. As you may know, Marines are like that.
Marines take care of Marines.

Although I probably don't know all of the facts pertaining to his case against the State
of New Jersey, I know enough to firmly believe that he should be heard in a public forum. His charges are serious.
There are claims of abuse of power and cover-up at the highest level of the State government. When such accusations
are made, I believe the leadership has no other option than to investigate. Until that is done, all that know of him
and his charges will assume that there is indeed a cover-up. Perception is a powerful thing. Hopefully it won't
be counter to the truth, whatever that may be.

If this is allowed to continue to fester, the results will be devastating
on all involved.

If this issue is not addressed soon, my only other option is to forward this to every Marine
website and public forum I can find. That option is not a good one for any of us.

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified,
shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

DURING THE VIETNAM WAR, AMERICANS
LIVED AND SERVED (24/7) WITHIN VIETNAMESE VILLAGES. FEW AMERICANS
BACK HOME EVER HEARD OF THESE MILITARY TEAMS, BECAUSE THE AMERICAN
NEWS MEDIA WAS NOT INTO TELLING POSITIVE, TRUTHFUL STORIES OF
THOSE SERVING HONORABLY FOR AMERICA. IT'S PRETTY MUCH THE
SAME TODAY WITH THE AMERICAN NEWS MEDIA.

BELOW IS AN ARTICLE
ABOUT ONE OF THESE MILITARY TEAMS IN VIETNAM. THE COMBINED
ACTION PROGRAM (CAP) WAS SUCH A SUCCESS DURING THE VIETNAM WAR,
THIS UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS' UNIT WAS REACTIVATED FOR OUR
CURRENT WAR ON TERRORISM.

PRESS
PICTURE FOR A LARGER COPY

PRESS
PICTURE FOR A LARGER COPY

PRESS
THE ARTICLE FOR A LARGER COPY

PRESS
THE ARTICLE FOR A LARGER COPY

PRESS
THE ARTICLE FOR A LARGER COPY

PRESS THE ARTICLE FOR A LARGER COPY

FACES OF THE DUC DUC REFUGEE
VILLAGE

In Vietnam, It Was Nicknamed "The Peace Corps
Volunteers With Rifles."

Anyone familiar with the Combined Action Platoons of the Vietnam War will understand what's going on here (In Iraq today).
These Marines live, work, sleep, eat and bathe in the same neighborhoods they are helping to stabilize. In doing so, they're
no longer driving in from a forward operating base, or FOB, outside the city and conducting patrols. Instead, they wake up
in the morning, plan a patrol, then walk out into the neighborhood and greet the men and women sweeping their sidewalks or
tending their shops. They're literally swarmed with children wanting a high five or a piece of chocolate. They visit schools,
markets and local infrastructure projects to see how things are going. There are no interrogations or mean faces, just a neighborly
walk through their district to check on the locals who sometimes know them by name.

Below are two links to some articles about the Marine Corps' Civil Action Programs

I served on a CAP Team in the Duc Duc Refugee Village. Sometimes, we only had four (4)
Americans in a village of 2,000 homes.

We got pulled out from our village in August 1970, because of President Nixon's troop pullout.
In March 1971, the village was burned to the ground by communist terrorists and hundreds and hundreds of innocent men, women
and children were killed, wounded and reported missing. http://www.americans-working-together.com/id222.html

Instead of the State of New Jersey giving me "reasonable disability
accommodations" for my war-service-related PTSD, the State allowed Maynard & Truland's arrogant lawyers to mock my disability
in New Jersey Supreme Court documents.

The corrupt law firm Maynard & Truland was the defendant in the
case, and I was the Plaintiff in the ethics complaint.